Back in 2017, MinnaLearn, a Helsinki-based firm was part of an IT consultancy that was next door to the University of Helsinki. Over coffee a group decided to create a Massive Online Open Course (Mooc) on AI, accompanied by a marketing campaign that this would be for everyone.

The initial target was for 1% of the Finnish population and with the support of their President they persuaded 250 Finnish companies to commit for their employees to do the course, meaning the target was reached within 6 months!

Following this another government minister challenged their Swedish neighbours and the course was translated into Swedish and consequently into German. The project gained European traction to the extent that even Emmanuel Macron encouraged all EU citizens to get on board. In 2019, Finland also held the Presidency of the EU which they used, to draw attention to the course and not only motivate all EU states to get involved but also enable funding for additional translations, thus it was also launched in Luxembourg.

The Elements of AI is a series of free online courses that encourages people to learn the core principles and methods, what can (and can’t) be done with AI, and how to start creating AI methods. The courses combine theory with practical exercises, can be completed at your own pace, and were launched in Luxembourg with the support of multiple partners.

We spoke with Laura Bruun project manager from MinnaLearn and Eva Suomi the Product owner of Elements of AI at the University of Helsinki.

Laura and Eva both joined the project in 2022, but before that they were not even convinced that AI was a big deal! However, after completing the course Eva realised that AI has the potential to make profoundly positive changes to society. “Everything that I know about how AI works, I learned through the course.”

What is your hope for AI education?

To demystify and democratize! No matter what your background is having enough knowledge about the technology behind AI applications means that you can participate in multiple ways in society. We want people to develop their own critical analysis skills about AI and continue their education into this powerful subject beyond our own course. In the past people thought that AI didn’t concern them, it was just a black box. Some people were also afraid that AI would cause robots to take over and jobs to be lost. But this course in a relatively small amount of hours can explain what AI really is and the impact it can have – both positive and negative!.

Inside of AI education is a lot of maths! Do I have to be an expert before starting the course? 

Well, we don’t have technical backgrounds at all!! The course is structured in a way to make it accessible to everyone. There are some maths exercises, but the course gives you enough material and guidance to be able to answer the questions.

40% of those passing the course are women. Much higher than other similar online courses why is that?

The design, language, and marketing. It is fun! and the visual identity of the course really makes a difference. It is not dark, it is colourful, likeable and accessible.

The first countries to engage with this were Nordic nations, which are already progressive in terms of equality and education, therefore the proportion of female graduates was quite high from the beginning. This momentum has continued.

It is acknowledged that AI may be used in a way to cause harm, such as by hackers. Do you think the benefits outweigh the risks?

We are not here to judge but to empower people to make their own decisions. We hope that future uses of AI should not just be left in the hands of engineers and big business, but that anyone who completes the course will have an understanding about how It will impact us all and how new applications can be made.

Do you think Luxembourg can become a centre for AI?

Yes! The financial sector is one that is already benefitting from a lot of AI applications. 

It is an industry that is full of numbers, predictions and statistics and therefore a perfect candidate for automation, machine learning, and other AI applications . We would therefore expect Luxembourg to be at the forefront of future AI innovation.  

We are a multilingual nation; will we still need human translators, or will AI do this task for us?

AI tools are already great at translation, and time will tell if we need human translators anymore.  However, AI models don’t always understand the cultural context of language because translations are made based on probabilities. AI is a great assisting tool and helper but should not be considered as a complete replacement.

This is a fast-moving area, are you making further updates?

Yes! The course has already been updated to include Gen-AI content and reflect new concerns that continue to evolve over time. Following the Elements of AI course, we’ve developed a learning program for businesses which include peer study groups and  exercises that can be applied to real business situations. We also encourage everyone who signs up to continue studying with courses concerning for example the very important ethical side of AI.

What could be possible with AI? What is your vision?

Many people think AI=Chat GPT which is great for all sorts of writing tasks and coding but not so good at others. Some people say that AI could even become a new species! We are in a period where it is very hard to say where this innovative journey will end. If you complete the course, you will realise that AI is in fact everywhere around us, our world is full of small applications. We guarantee that if you take the course your eyes will be opened, and you will realise how long it has been around for already. Only time will tell where AI development head in the future will, but it will for sure be an exciting one.